


Just Another Day At Gotham High

by Supernova95



Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - Fandom, DCU, DCU (Comics), Robin (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-07-19
Updated: 2013-07-19
Packaged: 2017-12-20 18:05:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,301
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/890235
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Supernova95/pseuds/Supernova95
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What's the worst that can happen?</p>
<p>(Don't answer that).</p>
            </blockquote>





	Just Another Day At Gotham High

**Author's Note:**

> I'm from the UK, and although I spent ages researching I probably have made some serious mistakes with the American high school system, please leave a comment if there is any blaring mistakes, thank-you.

They woke up to screaming. It was Damian… again. Bruce had left him at home the previous night and he wasn’t happy about it. By the time Tim had gotten dressed and went downstairs to have breakfast it had been going on for at least ten minutes.

 

“For the final time Damian, you are only six years old. An assassin trained six-year-old; yes, but not a Gotham trained one. You are only allowed out on quiet patrols until you get used to the city and, more importantly, the people in it.”

“But Drake got to go” Damian knew Tim was eating his breakfast just behind him, he thought Tim was beneath him… he thought everyone (except his father) was beneath him, but Tim seemed to bear the brunt of that more than most.

“Tim got to go because he is older than you and has grown up in Gotham his entire life. Now will you please go upstairs and put on your school uniform” a sentence that would have usually ended a conversation sent a new argument up into the air.

“No”

“And why not?”

“Because school is a stupid waste of time, that we could spend fighting crime”

“He’s a poet and he just didn’t know it” Jason said as he walked into the room and sat down to start his breakfast. This received a raised eyebrow from Alfred who gave him a bowl of cereal and two slices of white toast, butter and jam for breakfast. It also received a ‘shut up’ glare from Bruce that made Jason turn away from him, but not in an apologetic way, Jason was trying to stop himself from laughing.

“School is not stupid, Master Damian, it is an integral part of growing up and learning” Alfred’s English accent cut through the silence.

“It is stupid and I’m not going”

“Yes you are Damian” Bruce caught the eye of Dick who had also just arrived for breakfast before school.

“Don’t look at me like that, I told you last night you’re on your own.” The three elder boys smiled. Damian was a giant pain who only seemed to respect his father, so when he didn’t it was amusing to watch.

“Damian, I will not ask you again, go upstairs and put on your school uniform, or I will be forced to put it on you myself” Damian looked up into his father’s eyes before conceding and going upstairs, he hated it when his father dressed him, it usually ended in tickles, and he hated tickles.

-

Fifteen minutes later and they were all in the car ready to go. As Alfred pulled away Damian took a last longing glance back at the house.

“First day nerves little bro?” Dick asked seeing this. Damian looked at him with a pale white face, his usual stuck up stubbornness melting away and he nodded

“What if they don’t like me?” Dick smiled his famous smile and pulled him into a brotherly embrace.

“Of course they’ll like you, but if anyone gives you grief you come straight to me or Jason. You may be a trained assassin, but Jase and I; we’re trained bully fighters, it’s a another skill altogether” The youngest boy smiled, so did his father who had never, is his three months living at Wayne Manor, seen his son smile unless he was running around the city skyline in a cape. It was actually a nice sight.

“Are you all sure you have everything you need?”

“Yes dad” they replied in unison, in varying tones. Jason sounded as though he was bored out of his mind, then again he usually did. Tim replied as though he was standing to attention, eager to please. Damian was barely audible; The league of Assassins had put him through a living hell for the first five years of his life but that sounded like heaven compared to school. Dick just rolled his eyes as her replied to the all too familiar question.

“We’re all fine, if we need anything, which we won’t, we won’t hesitate to call you or Alfred.” Dick finished for his brothers; they went through the same routine at the start of every school term. It was tradition.

The car pulled to a stop, Jason put away his games console, Tim stowed his book in his bag and Dick released his brother so they could all get out of the car.

“Alfred will be here to pick you up later, Jason please try not to get detention on your first day back, look after Damian and we will see you tonight.” Bruce liked being a worried parent, it was refreshing. “Have a good day at school” the boys waved their goodbyes and stuck around just long enough to hear Alfred’s reassuring Queen’s English accent tell Bruce that they would be fine and to see the car pull away before they turned and walked into the school gates.

The school was one giant building that catered for students from preschool all the way up to high school seniors. Truth be told it was pretty intimidating. Only the best of the best go to Gotham high, or the rich of the rich. It was a place where either the smartest, but poorest, kids were bullied or the richest kids were bullied, no matter how smart they were. The bullying wasn’t usually nasty, but for Bruce Wayne’s kids the smears were endless. Tim, especially, got no respect at school; it was widely known that he was attending Gotham High on the best scholarship the school offered before being adopted by Bruce Wayne. The boys usually stuck together, with a small tight group of friends, people who didn’t care who they were or how much money their father had. People like Barbara Gordon, who was running up to them to say hi after the summer break. Barbara was the daughter of the Police Commissioner and was attending Gotham High on a Gymnastics Scholarship… no one bullied Barbara.

“Hey guys, how was your summer?” she asked as she approached the group

“Boring, yours?” Dick replied

“Okay, dad forced us on a two week holiday to some out-of-the-way part of Oklahoma. He gets two weeks holiday and we spend it in the most boring, there-is-nothing-to-do-there part of the country.” She growled then sighed “But apart from that I had a good summer”

“Good” he was smiling at her and she was smiling at him. Jason rolled his eyes

“Will you two get a room”

“What?” they asked together and immediately burst into simultaneous giggles. All Jason could do was roll his eyes at them again and pull Dick off towards their part of the school. Fear started to prickle in Damian’s eyes

“Don’t leave me”

“Don’t worry little bro, we just have to go to lessons in this part” he pointed to the middle section of the building “of the school”

“‘Cause we’re Middle Schoolers” Jason interrupted and Dick swatted his brother in the arm.

“You and Tim are in that part” he pointed to the far left

“‘Cause you’re in the Elementary school and- Ow!” Dick swatted his brother in the arm again but this time harder… much harder

“Damian, school is nothing to worry about. You won’t do much today anyway. All that’s going to happen is you’ll get to know your class. It’s not that bad. Jase and I have to go now, but we’ll see you at break.” He turned to Tim “Normal table, school canteen… and Tim; look after your brother” Tim nodded his reply and with that the two older boys left to start their days.

“So…” Tim started awkwardly “we go this way…” he started walking and Damian followed in an awkward silence. Tim still hadn’t forgotten about what Damian had said that morning, and neither had Damian by the sound of it.

They entered the school by the door furthest on the left and walked into brightly coloured halls with children’s work lining the walls. Tim looked down at the letter they had been sent when Damian was accepted into Gotham High. ‘Room 2b: Mrs Himnest’ Room 2b was the second room (first door on the right) after one flight of stairs. It was a normal room, full of desks half filled with children who either were smiling so much they could have been poisoned by Joker gas, or they looked as though they could burst out crying at any minute. Tim remembered his first day of school, he was neither smiling nor upset, he just sat there with a blank expression. His father had been paralysed shortly before the start of term in a freak accident. He had no tears left and wasn’t in the mood to be happy, he had wanted to be in the hospital with him but his dad insisted he went to school.

“This is it Damian, basically your second home for the next few months. You’ll be fine, I’m just down the hall in room 2g and I’ll be back here at break to pick you up and take you to the others.” Usually first grade classes stayed together and were taken, by their teachers, to a little playground out the back of the school they shared with the second graders, but as Damian had elder siblings in the school they were allowed to look after him at break and lunch times. Damian gave his brother a quick squeeze before entering the classroom. The teacher looked up expectant to see a parent showing their kid to class, her face fell a bit when she saw Tim but she forced a smile and greeted him. He nodded a “Hi miss” and waved Damian goodbye before exiting and walking to his classroom, which he was given at the end of the previous year, along with his new teacher; Mr Gobnen, whom he hated.

“This is going to be a long year” he thought to himself as he walked into room 2g.

-

The first two periods of the day went without incident. They were given their timetables and a little time to socialise with their classmates whom they hadn’t seen for three months. Then they were set some light exercises as a quick reminder of what they had learnt in the previous year, which Tim found amazingly easy, then the bell went. Even though it had passed quicker then he thought it would he hurried out of his classroom and down the hall to Damian’s where his brother was waiting with a teaching assistant. He reached out his hand and Damian took it without looking back.

“Having fun?” Tim asked as they descended the stairs and went out the door they came in. unfortunately the Elementary school had not yet been given a connecting door to the rest of the campus, they kept promising, it never came. Damian pondered the question a moment then nodded a little. Tim smiled, “That’s good”. He showed his brother into the school’s main entrance and they were greeted with a long white corridor lined with lockers, classrooms and some sets of stairs. Damian’s jaw dropped and quivered slightly. Everything was bigger here, wider halls, bigger staircases, bigger kids. Unfortunately, as a first grader and a fourth grader they weren’t very high on the ‘who got hall walking priority’ list. After being pushed about and bumped into all the way down the hall they finally made it to the large and old wooden canteen doors. Using all his strength Tim managed to push the doors open, he usually would have used a different entrance to the hall but this way was the most direct and he thought that Damian should get the best first experience of the hall. If it was even possible Damian’s jaw dropped further and his eyes widened the hall was a spectacular sight. It was one of the few remaining parts of the original school build when Gotham was first established in the 1800s. It was made of Portland stone, and had a cathedral nave type feel to it. There were arches going down the hall that always made Tim feel like he was at Hogwarts, that and the oak tables the school board had purchased to ‘keep the old feel’ to the room. The only thing out of place was the canteen hatch in the wall on the opposite side of the room. It was state of the art but ugly looking and didn’t fit with the room’s ambience; unfortunately it was a government requirement ambience or no ambience.

Tim continued walking, with Damian hot on his heels until they reached their usual table in the corner of the room. Dick, Jason, Barbara and another boy eating a newly bought sandwich, were already at the table.

“Damian, this is Tony, he’s in the grade below me. Tony this is Damian, our baby brother. He just started first grade” Damian shot Dick a glare at being called a baby and sat down at the table. The other boy, Tony, finished his mouthful and stuck out his hand

“Pleased to meet you Damian, your brothers have told me all about you” he laughed at the panicked expression that flashed across Damian’s face “don’t worry they only told me the good stuff” Damian smiled, but couldn’t quite find any words to reply with so he just took the outstretched palm.

“It totally wasn’t my fault” Damian suddenly focused on the conversation his brothers were having

“And how wasn’t it your fault Jase?”

“The guy insulted me”

“So you swore at him… repeatedly, even after being told to shut up by Mr Clark”

“Yes” he looked down at the table not able to hold eye contact with Dick “He had it coming” his voice was angry and he humphed crossing his arms at the same time, slouching in his chair and putting on an angry straight faced expression.

“It’s not an afterschool is it? Because if it is then dad is not going to be happy”

“No it’s only a lunchtime…”

“Good” that finished the conversation and Dick went back to whatever he was doing before, a worksheet or something. Jason looked a bit put out by Dick’s short end to the conversation then his face brightened into a mischievous smile

“Must be a new school record though, right?”

“No” this time it was Tim who piped up “You set that at the beginning of last year when you tripped up that teacher on the way to your first lesson” his eyes did not look up from the book he was reading.

“Oh yeah” Jason’s mood visibly brightened at the table, seemingly happy that he held the record for the quickest detention. “So Tony how was your summer?”

“‘Twas okay, but ungh, my mum agh…”

“Tony what’s wrong?” Barbara asked as Tony squeezed his eyes shut gritted his teeth and rubbed his forehead with his palms.

“Heads on… agh… fire, hurts like… agh” he was sweating and looked as though he could collapse at any time.

“We need to get him to the nurse” Dick said taking control of the situation “Barbara, could you run ahead and tell the nurse what’s going on” she nodded and ran off, Dick then turned to his brothers “we need to get him upstairs. They all set to work; despite their training with Batman it still took all three of the eldest Robins to lift Tony onto Dick’s back who then proceeded to start half carrying, half dragging Tony up to the nurse’s office

“Tony what have you eaten?”

“Ungh, always with the jokes Dick?”

“Just trying to keep you smiling… what can I say I’m a perform…er” Tony started to cough seemingly uncontrollably just as Dick was finishing his sentence. His coughing became so violent Dick that had to drop him, and he was no longer responsive.

“What do we do?” Tim asked the question and the boys all shared glances,

“We get him to the nurse” Dick replied and they each grabbed a limb, Dick and Jason grabbed Tony under the armpits and Tim and Damian grabbed his feet so that if one of them had to drop him Dick and Jason could still drag him. That was until he started convulsing.

“So what do we do now, Dicky boy” for Jason exasperated teasing was a coping mechanism, although not a very nice one. Tony suddenly started thrashing around kicking his legs and arms in various directions and Dick was out of ideas. Then it all stopped and Tony became dead still.

“Is, is he?” Damian started looking out from behind Dick where he had taken refuge from stray limbs.

“No, he’s still breathing” Tin responded; watching the slow rise and fall of Tony’s chest.

“Then why isn’t he… agh!” Just as Damian spoke Tony’s eyes shot open. His pupils were dilated so much they took up the whole of his iris and his corneas were drastically bloodshot. He looked angy.

“Tony? Are you okay?” Dick started as Tony got up. He was no longer convulsing or coughing but he was still sweating.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Not that you’d care…”

“What? Of course I care, if I didn’t why would I drag you up all those stairs?”

“Because you feel sorry for me, the helpless nerdy boy here on a scholarship, whilst you Mister I-was-adopted-by-Bruce-Wayne get to go here all expenses paid by your rich daddy, in fact the new sports complex even has his name on it” he had started to back Dick towards the wall, although he was a year younger than Dick he towered over him and found it very easy to oppress the elder teen. “You don’t care about anyone, why should you? You have all the money you could ever want why should you be bothered with a little boy like me?”

“Because you’re my friend…” Tony punched him, he wasn’t expecting it and he stumbled back into a row of lockers and fell onto the floor. His nose was bleeding but nothing felt broken and he looked back up at his attacker;

“Friend? Ha, I’m just an acquaintance, someone to keep you company through school then you get to go off and run a company presented to you on a silver platter by your rich daddy, whilst I’ll have to work for the rest of my life… I bet you’ve never had a hard day in your life.” there was a collective intake of breath from the small crowd that had gathered around the commotion, sure many people pestered the boys about their rich father, but they all knew what the kids had gone through before their adoptions and none of them stooped so low as to remind them of it. Dick’s eyes stung with tears and Jason moved to clock Tony back when Tony collapsed. The crowd started to dissipate when they saw the one way fight had broken up; a kid collapsed on the floor just didn’t hold as much appeal as a fight. Jason started to help Dick up as Tim checked Tony’s pulse, he was still alive.

“Dick are you okay he clocked you go…” he was silenced by Dick’s ‘shut-up’ stare; mouth open Jason stated “Yours is better than Bruce’s” that at least brought a smile back to the first boy wonder’s lips. He had seen this sort of behaviour before but he couldn’t remember where, his mind and head were buzzing too much.

Overaggressive, out of character behaviour, thoughts he know weren’t in his mind before. It dawned on him.

“We need to get him to the nurse’s office and then we need to ring Bruce, I think we’ve found some of the missing drugs” the three elder boys faced lit up in recognition and enlightenment. Damian’s just looked more confused

“What missing drug?”


End file.
